Can a mobile phone company be held partially responsible for huge bill?

jaxs

My friend has unfortunately been in hospital for the last 10 months and during this time, her teenager has been staying with family.

Over this period, her child has run up some huge data charges, which have resulted in bills of £100s each month. The last couple of months have been even worse - she's currently facing a bill of nearly £4k for 2 months.

She's still in hospital and could do without all this but has been speaking to the phone company and they offered her a 'payment plan' of about £700ish per month, which by anyones standards is laughable. She's told them this and they've now cut her off.

She's not saying she won't pay and accepts the blame so to speak, but in my mind, surely the phone company could be held partially responsible as they let the bill go this high, knowing full well she's struggled to pay over the previous months?

Has anyone else had a situation like this? I know it's a long shot, but is there anything she could try?

mobilejunkie

If she struggled to pay over previous months why didn't she stop using the phone? The fact her child had it and was allowed to continue to use is isn't the provider's fault.

A mobile contract is a blank cheque-book. The only thing she can try is talking with the network concerned. If it's EE she will struggle to get very far. If it's Vodafone she needs to contact the Web Relations Team on here (following the repeated instructions on the Vodafone complaints thread).

victor2

May sound a bit hard, but if it's been going on for some time, surely she would have realised at some point that there was a problem, especially as she's been struggling to pay the previous months. Can't expect the phone company to take any responsibility.
She needs to throw herself at the mercy of the phone company and hope for a bit of compassion. If she finds out what a data plan big enough to cover the usage would have cost, then maybe that's her best hope.

glentoran99

she might have had some luck the first time, but not if its repeated

jaxs

victor2 wrote: »

May sound a bit hard, but if it's been going on for some time, surely she would have realised at some point that there was a problem, especially as she's been struggling to pay the previous months. Can't expect the phone company to take any responsibility.
She needs to throw herself at the mercy of the phone company and hope for a bit of compassion. If she finds out what a data plan big enough to cover the usage would have cost, then maybe that's her best hope.

I don't think there is a data plan in existance that would cover this usage!!

She's always paid the other bills, albeit slightly late & as for not realising what was going on, I can't explain that

jaxs

I didn't think there was much she could do apart from plead with them for mercy (& a realistic payment plan) but I thought I'd post on here just in case.

Thanks all

mobilejunkie

jaxs wrote: »

I don't think there is a data plan in existance that would cover this usage!!

She's always paid the other bills, albeit slightly late & as for not realising what was going on, I can't explain that

If you can't, how would the provider? They exist to provide a service to make a profit for the people (who could include you even though you may not be aware of it) who provide the capital to run it at their risk. You enter a contract where you agree to pay according to the terms of that contract - just as they agree to provide a certain product and/or service for a minimum period at a stated cost. The responsibility lies with the person who uses it and and controls that use.

A debt of just under 4k will take around six months to repay at £700ish a month. How long should they allow, given theat they don't have to allow anything at all?

jaxs

mobilejunkie wrote: »

If you can't, how would the provider? They exist to provide a service to make a profit for the people (who could include you even though you may not be aware of it) who provide the capital to run it at their risk. You enter a contract where you agree to pay according to the terms of that contract - just as they agree to provide a certain product and/or service for a minimum period at a stated cost. The responsibility lies with the person who uses it and and controls that use.

A debt of just under 4k will take around six months to repay at £700ish a month. How long should they allow, given theat they don't have to allow anything at all?

The comment was said tongue in cheek & with respect, I don't need to have the principle of business explained to me.

As to how long they should give her to pay, I have no idea but they could be a little more understanding to an unfortunate situation. Don't know about you, but I have a good job & I don't have a spare £700 a month.

SnowTiger

mobilejunkie wrote: »

If it's EE she will struggle to get very far.

I think EE cuts data off once you've hit your package limit, giving you the opportunity to buy more.

SuperAllyB

SnowTiger wrote: »

I think EE cuts data off once you've hit your package limit, giving you the opportunity to buy more.

They certainly do with me anyway, not sure about older plans.

jaxs

SnowTiger wrote: »

I think EE cuts data off once you've hit your package limit, giving you the opportunity to buy more.

Thats a sensible way to stop issues happening